Read this when
Dear Mr. Henshaw
When your parents split up, sometimes all you can do is write it down. ✏️
Who it's for
Told through letters to his favourite author and then his own diary, Leigh Botts writes about his parents' separation, being the new kid at school, missing his mostly absent truck-driver father and someone stealing from his lunch.
Feelings it meets
What it is
A 1983 children's novel by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky and published by William Morrow, told through letters and diary entries. Sixth-grader Leigh Botts starts writing to his favourite author, Boyd Henshaw, for a school assignment. Henshaw encourages him to keep a diary, in which Leigh writes about his parents' divorce, being new at school, his often-absent truck-driver father and a lunch thief.
Where to find it
In print in paperback and ebook; widely held by school and public libraries.
Before you start
Heads up: Parents' separation, absent father.
Age: Not rated (ages 8–12)
Everything was in confusion in the Oblonskys' house.Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, Part 1, Chapter 1 (tr. Constance Garnett)
